Nonsensical comments, abuse, baiting, ranting and leftist stupidity will not be tolerated.
There are a number of young mothers (and probably some fathers) who post on this site. I'd love to know what their views are on this issue.
Dee, Nilk - would either of you agree that the early sexualisation of women poses significant threats to the development of young girls?
ok, mondo when i read your question i thought i'm not going to go there, but i've reconsidered and here goes:
yes, you know that as a christian and a mother i dislike the sexualisation of young girls, however, i see this as a moral issue and not one which can be solved by militant feminism actually i think it's somewhat hypocritical of feminists who helped to usher in the era of 'free love' by asserting that the differences between males and females were due to social conditioning ...theories which have since been debunked by gender-based research and scans on the human brain and its effect on behaviour
therefore i believe that it's hypocritical of the feminist movement to be screaming about the objectifying of females when they have encouraged these same females to go out and take on the sexual behaviour of the typical hormone-driven young male ...males and females are different and feminism has tried to deny that ...i believe that often an ideological movement such as feminism tries to justify itself and perhaps popularize itself more widely by appearing to have lofty goals ...in this case, i think that feminism has nothing to offer as a remedy to the breakdown of the moral fibre of society ...it's so hard to rebuild something precious once it has been destroyed
Absolutely, Mondo. The oversexualisation of children is a huge issue with me.
I don't take Magilla shopping for underwear, for example, because I see no need for her to be tempted by bra and knicker sets for pre-schoolers.
Children should be allowed to be children and not bombarded with messages about sexuality and sexual behaviour.
The develop ideas about said behaviour that are not the healthiest, and while I can talk about it from a christian perspective, I'd rather talk about it from experience.
Having been there and done that, got the tshirt and all that, the freedom to do what you want when you want is overrated and does not accomplish anything except fooling yourself.
We live in a world of instant gratification in all areas, without corresponding attention given to the requisite responsibilities that go with that.
I gave up watching music vids years ago because I find the way women dress and parade around offends me - as a person and as a woman. It sends me the message that that's what girls do.
We make sure we have really hot bodies and we can prance around in skimpy clothes, appearing sexually available for any bloke who happens along.
That is not how relationships work, and that is not the image my girl is going to have of her place in society.
The feminists suddenly bleating on about the bleeding obvious just tells me that they're starting to hurt from the push back by the men's rights activists, and conservative parenting groups.
Particularly now that we have bit of paper with scratchings on them that can demonstrate that when you reduce girls to nothing more than sexual objects then of course it's going to lead to unhealthy psychosocial and emotional development.
You're so suspicious Dee!!
I tend to agree with you both that it IS, on a superficial level, a problem of 'liberals' own making - it is we lefties who are most likely to defend pornography or sexually charged entertainment on 'freedom of expression' grounds.
Feminists, however, have been pretty consistent over time with their message against sexual exploitation of women. It is surely a very fine line with young girls - teaching them to be proud of their bodies and to not be embarrassed of their sexuality whilst also countering the semi-pornographic ideal that is thrown up by the mass media.
I'm certainly not looking forward to this challenge.
mondo, i guess i do sound a bit cynical ...when i think of feminists, instantly a picture of the nasty, wizened, male-hating beasts like germaine greer come to mind ...i think of thousands of articles and rants i've read that are nothing but what sounds to me like embittered and twisted views of life ...one woman with whom i debating about abortion said (amongst other delightful things) that all men were...and i can't remember the adjective but it wasn't nice...all christians should be marched into the sea to drown and that she has personally aborted many babies and that she felt absolutely nothing about that ...that's my perception of a militant feminist ...i find myself repulsed by this kind of person
i know those are extremists, but being somewhat of an extremist myself, i believe that if you're going to believe in an ideal, you'd better be comfortable with its extremes too ...i'm not going to walk one step down a road that i can't see the end of
There must be something wrong with me, since I don't see you as an extremist at all, dee.
You just come across as someone who's definite about where they stand and that's that.
You are nowhere near a rabid as I can be when my back's up and I'm in fullblown rant mode. Of course, that could be because I have yet to see that side of you. 
The thing is, Mondo, when it comes to children, there is no middle ground. As far as I am concerned, there can't be.
Sure, kids are fun, but as a parent your role is to raise a successful adult - in my opinion, the definition of success is a someone who is confident within themselves, selfsufficient, and equipped to go out and become a productive member of society.
Oh, and one who knows how to think for themselves and utilise their critical faculties.
There is no room in there for social experiments, and there is no room for sentiment, as children come without the tools they need, and they learn primarily from you.
That means ensuring that the environment at home is supportive and challenging without being demeaning.
That means ensuring that boundaries are set and kept.
That means that fun is balanced with responsibility.
If that means I don't get to go out for a year, so be it.
I've been a child, and I had a damn good upbringing (even if I did fall off the path a couple of times lol), and my child is going to have the same.
So there. :p
(sorry, couldn't resist)
Feminism does not support what I consider the correct way to raise children.
And that's speaking as one who used to call herself a feminist.
My opinion is that parents need to be parents and exercise control over what their youngsters see, read & hear. However too many parents are very lax in that regard. Granted it is very difficult to do in our sex & violence drenched culture, but it can be done.
This report looks like another wish list for government control over the media, under the guise "but it is good for the children". It belongs in the paper shredder.
Betsy, you are so much more succinct than I am. Well said.
So Nilk, would it be fair to say that you agree with the conclusions reached by the feminist authors of the report quoted by JR? That is, that the sexualised images of women in the media can have a negative impact on the self esteem of young girls?
That certainly seems to be your position when you say That means ensuring that the environment at home is supportive and challenging without being demeaning. I assume this includes being careful about your child's exposure to sexualised media images.
interestingly, miranda devine writes about feminism and sexualization of women in today's herald...i haven't read it yet, but i have cut it out to read in my break...it looks interesting ... i would be interested in seeing what others think about her perspective
Yes, I agree, Mondo. I'm just suspicious of their reasons for it now.
After all, the feminists are the ones who've been pushing the empowerment barrow for years now, and girls and women are empowered to the degree that 15 year old girls see nothing wrong with dressing like tramps and giving blow jobs to boys on the train home. (My neice's schoolmate).
This is not healthy behaviour, and this girl is going to get herself into a lot of trouble in the not too distant future.
Miranda Devine's piece here.
I've not read it yet either - got to get back to work.
ok, read it and her opinion is almost identical to mine above - actually for a 'fairfaxista' she shows a remarkable degree of rational skepticism of leftist feminist and moral relativist agenda ...she could be accused of being downright sexist, though i don't think so ...i'm sure she'll attract some rabid criticism
by the way:
There must be something wrong with me, since I don't see you as an extremist at all, dee.
thanks nilk ...i forget that i'm amongst kindred spirits here but compared to the status quo out there, we're all extremists ...to me, we're sane and the world is losing it
I've not read it yet either - got to get back to work.
LOL ...nilk, we're rushing to this site even in our breaks ...i think we're more than a little interested :P
Since I'm either on the road, with clients or working from home, I've always got the pc on. Then it's a case of checking in regularly to follow the threads.
At the moment, though, it's picking up and I've had a lot of running out and about to do.
Got a few busy weeks on the way.
Thank you for the compliment Nilk!
*blushes*
Credit where it's due, Betsy I see you've been hanging out at B5, too.
Nilk I check out B5 every day though I do not post very often. Good stuff.
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